


Promised to No One

by Tabithian



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU, DCU - Comicverse, Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-18
Updated: 2013-04-18
Packaged: 2017-12-08 21:12:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/766056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tabithian/pseuds/Tabithian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jason knows Tim's up to something when he goes down to the cave to find it empty.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Promised to No One

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Heartslogos who prompted JayTim, cyberpunk. Also, [this post](http://superblys.tumblr.com/post/31627381129/fastest-boy-alive-littlebbredbird).

Jason knows Tim's up to something when he goes down to the cave to find it empty. Bruce and Dick took the demon brat overseas for training and it's just the two of them in the Manor.

“I believe Master Timothy has left some files open.”

Correction, the two of them and the Manor's AI, Alfred.

“Did he now?” Jason says, coming down the stairs.

Alfred makes a noncommittal noise that always makes Jason wonder if Bruce programmed him to do that or if it's a quirk the AI picked up over the years. 

“The main screen, Master Jason.”

Jason stops, looks up at the cameras he knows are focused on him now. “He didn't use the cradle?”

A quiet _hmm_ and, “No, he was most insistent about not doing so.”

“Oh goddammit,” Jason growls, dropping down into the computer chair.

Bruce and Tim are the only ones with implants that let them immerse themselves into the Batcave's computer network, and the only time either one forgoes the cradle is for a _reason_.

With Bruce it's usually a test of some kind – bastard _loves_ his little tests - but with Tim...

The little shit's gotten passive-aggressive about this kind of thing. 

He thinks nothing about doing something like traipsing off to God knows where to end up fighting a group of assassins and falling in with Ra's al Ghul like when they thought Bruce was dead. When they'd let him know in no uncertain terms that hey, that wasn't such a hot idea because Tim nearly _died_ , he'd started doing things like this. 

It's a little petty and juvenile with the implants Tim has, but. All of them are petty and juvenile when you get right down to it. 

Bruce has been keeping an eye on the lab Cadmus built on the outskirts of Gotham – not their brightest move if they'd hoped to go unnoticed – since it was built. They all know about it, but so far Bruce hasn't done anything about it. Possibly a mistake, since Tim's been taking an interest in it.

Enough to bring the blueprints up on the cave's computer – the official ones and the not so official. Surveillance footage Bruce has of the guards, the lab's security measures.

It figures he'd wait until Bruce and Dick were both out of town with the demon brat to make his move. Trusting Jason to back him up if he needs it, like he thinks Jason won't rat him out for being an idiot and going after Cadmus on his own.

Reading the little notations and addendums to Bruce's files and the discrepancies in the two sets of blueprints, Jason's getting a bad feeling about everything, really. 

He doesn't know if it's c a good sign or not when the theme to that old show _The Six Million Dollar Man_ starts playing. Jason knows it's probably in bad taste to have it set to play when he gets an incoming call, but it's a _thing_. 

That, and Alfred gets this _tone_ when it starts up, and it's fucking hilarious. 

“Master Timothy is calling,” Alfred says, oh so polite and British. Some days Jason wishes he'd gotten to meet the man the AI is modeled after. “Should I put it on the main screen?”

“Put him on, Alfred,” Jason says, and scowls when Tim's face appears.

He's not in any part of the lab Jason recognizes from the surveillance camera videos, but thanks to Bruce and the others, Jason's spent enough time in the sewers to recognize one when he sees one. The fact that Tim's wearing a simple stealth-suit instead of his usual one sets off alarms in the back of Jason's head.

Whatever had Tim go off on his own like this was something he didn't want Cadmus to tie back to them, and that's never a good sign when Tim's involved.

“Hey, Jason,” Tim says, like he's not slogging through the sewers, Cadmus security chasing him down. “Are you busy right now?”

“I don't know, Tim,” he says. “Are you doing something stupid and ill-advised right now?”

Somewhere off-screen there's a shout that has Tim crouching low, tucking himself deeper into the little alcove he's hiding in.

“If I say yes, what are you going to do?”

Jason takes a deep breath and slowly unclenches his hand. He knows it's psychological - the tech's too good for this - but he swears he can feel each one of the cylinders move, _hear_ them. Soft whine and _clickclickclick_ , gentle hum as his muscles contract and relax.

The synthetic skin is good, the best money can buy, but Jason knows. Can't pretend it's anything but what it is, not after the the damn explosion that should have killed him, that left him like _this_. A conglomeration of flesh and blood and bone and synthetics.

More man than machine, but only just. He aches on bad days, and cold weather makes him hurt, makes him _want_ to hurt.

It's why Dick and Tim drag him over to the fireplace in the sitting room to watch movies before he can get worked up. They pull out blankets and pillows and shutter the windows, the only light from the fire and the television set, and for a little while it's as close to normal as they're likely to get.

Bruce will wander in around the middle of the second movie, and demon brat hovers at the edge of the room the whole time until Dick pounces on him.

“Where the fuck are you?”

Tim grins, sharp. “I'm sending Alfred the coordinates, bring the car.”

Jason's eyes narrow as Alfred pulls up a secondary screen with Tim as a flashing red dot, solid line of red leading to the pick-up point half a mile away. 

“Got it,” Jason says. Leans forward to make sure Tim gets this. “Don't die before I get there.”

Tim flashes him a mock salute, but the look in his eyes is serious. “Don't drive like an old lady, then.” 

Tim turns away before he cuts off the call, voices drawing closer to his location and Jason very carefully does _not_ worry about that. Not one damn bit.

Bruce wouldn't have let any of them out on their own if they weren't trained for it, but Tim worries all of them sometimes. (Always.)

“Alfred?”

“The car is being prepared as we speak, Master Jason.”

Jason grins, every bit as sharp and vicious as Tim's had been, maybe even more. “Watch the house while I'm gone.”

********

Jason meets Tim by a sewer outlet a few miles downstream from Cadmus' lab. 

Tim climbs out of a ditch, cowl of the stealth suit he'd worn pulled down. His artificial eye gleams unnatural red as he crosses into the car's headlights, and Jason has to wonder if they're the only ones keeping Wayne Enterprises' cybernetics division in business. 

Between Jason's everything, Tim's eye, Dick's knees, and Bruce's spinal implants, for starters, they must be. 

“Thanks for the lift,” Tim says, like he hasn't been playing laser tag with people who would love to take one of them down, given the chance. 

“This is why no one likes you,” Jason says, giving Tim a quick onceover to make sure he's not seriously hurt.

Tim just smiles at him like he knows Jason's full of shit. “I know.”

Jason sighs, relieved to see the suit did its job, although Tim must have put it through its paces judging by the scorch marks where the guards came uncomfortably close. It's the fact that Tim's other arm is curled up close to his chest that has Jason worried. 

“The hell did you do to yourself?” Jason asks, reaching out to see for himself, but Tim steps back, posture shifting to something more defensive.

“So, I may have found something.”

Jason's eyes narrow. 

Tim lifts one shoulder in a shrug, and slowly uncurls to reveal a small bundle. He pulls part of the blanket covering it away and -

“Fucking hell,” Jason says with feeling.

Tim's smile is strained. “He has Bruce's eyes.”

And his nose, and his jawline and Jason has a feeling this is a little bigger than Tim picking up a stray out on patrol and bringing it back to the Manor.

“You're worse than Damian,” Jason says, staring down at the baby.

Tim shrugs, headed for the car. “I blame Bruce,” he says, smile in his voice. “He started it when he took Dick in.”

********

Tim has Alfred run scans on the baby when they get back to the cave.

“He needs a name,” Tim says, when the scans come out clean. “We can't just call him 'the baby' or 'hey you', you know.”

The baby's wrapped up in one of Jason's shirts that's gotten mixed in with Tim's clothes like everything else in his life. He's making little gurgling sounds, little hands reaching for Tim's nose, and Jason wants exactly none of this.

Tim doesn't seem to notice, or more likely just doesn't care because he hands the baby over to Jason with one of his _looks_ on his face.

“Please don't,” Jason says, even though he knows Tim _will_ , he's that kind of asshole.

“I was thinking Terry,” Tim says, gently poking the baby's - goddamn _Terry's_ \- nose when he starts to fuss. “What do you think?”

Jason thinks Bruce is going to flip his shit when he gets back and finds out what Cadmus has been doing with his DNA. (Jason has Alfred's solemn promise that he'll get copies of the footage when Bruce finds out.)

“I think you're the one who gets to change his diapers,” Jason says. Scowls at the look Tim gives him. “ _And_ you get to tell Bruce about this one.”


End file.
